Training for a Half Marathon

It's the fourth week of training and I'm a bit discouraged. It wasn't until my freshmen year of college, that I started running. I took a jogging class and it motivated me to get up every morning and run. I had to do it for my grade, but I enjoyed the benefits I received from it. Sure the exercise was nice, but it was more therapeutic then anything. I could go for a run and relieve stress and have time for myself to think about life. It was fun.

Once I discovered I was pregnant with Mason, my running came to a complete hault. My doctor said it would be fine to run, but I didn't want to take the chance. I missed it, but I had a lot of other things to do with my time. Two kids later, and three years, I picked up my running shoes once again.

On my first run, I remember thinking to myself, how much I had missed it. It wasn't that difficult to back into the swing of things and surprisingly, I wasn't too sore. I expected to hardly be able to move. I started off strong and each day, I looked forward to my next run.

Four weeks later, I am at a hault. I debated about writing about this, because let's face it, who likes to admit their weaknesses. However, I know there are many people out there that run and who have completed half marathons, and even marathons and I need some encouragement.

I have read that running long distances is 90% mental and 10% physical, and I'm finding that to be so true. Seriously, my mind can convince me almost anything is possible, but it can also convince me that it is impossible. My dreams even revolve around running.

If it's possible to be a morning person and a night owl all in one, then that is me. I don't like to wake up early, but I don't like to waist my day away. Once I'm awake, I'm awake and ready to go. No matter how early I was up that morning, I can stay awake until late at night. I usually wake up about 6:30am and go to bed around midnight. That being said, I don't like running early in the morning. I don't mind a mid-morning run, but I prefer an afternoon run.

Last week, I didn't run at all. It rained every day, all day in Bakersfield. I planned on cross training but then I came down sick, and didn't feel up for running. Once the weekend hit, the weather was nice again, but I had no motivation. I kept telling myself that I needed to go, but I had other things to do, since I was laid out sick all week.

Adam's work schedule isn't helping either. He travels usually three days out of the week, but for the past two weeks, he has been working here in Bakersfield. However, he leaves as early as 5:30am and doesn't get home sometimes until 8:30pm. These are all excuses, I know, but how do I find time to run when I have two young kids and no jogging stroller?

I have been praying about this and covet your prayers. I want to complete this half marathon in May, but I'm feeling bogged down with one thing after the other. I know it's mental and I physically can do it, but I didn't expect to feel this way so soon into my training. Advice, tips, and prayers are welcome.

Ten on Tuesday

This week's Ten on Tuesday is brought to us thru Chelsea. Sorry I didn't post one last week, but that was the first day I came down sick.

1. What accomplishment are you most proud of?
Giving birth to two beautiful children. While I enjoyed being pregnant, it wasn't always easy. I was fortunate to have two pretty easy labors, although they call it labor for a reason. Contractions aren't fun, by any means. When I was first pregnant with Mason, I had really bad anxiety over the labor. Without having any experience in it, I was scared of the unknown. But once I held both Mason and Taylor in my arms, it was the best feeling in the world. Nothing is more rewarding.

2. How much did you weigh when you were born?
6lbs, 7oz.

3. What is your favorite perfume?
I recently wrote about it here.

4. How many siblings do you have?
I have an older sister, Christina and a younger brother, Kris.

5. How many children would you like to have? (Or how many children do you have?)
I have two. Mason is 2.5 years old and Taylor is 10.5 months old. We hope to have at least one more, but possibly two. I have always wanted four, but we have compromised with three, with the option of having more. We also hope to adopt one day, if the Lord leads us in that direction.

6. What's the best class you took in college?
Early Childhood Development. My professor was a stay-at-home dad and it was interesting hearing his prospective on fatherhood.

7. What was your favorite game to play when you were a child?
Life. I couldn't wait to spin and have twin girls or boy and put them in the car. My favorite career was always the journalist. I still love that game, even if it has upgraded a bit to fit today's world.

8. What character on Friends are you most like?
I just wrote about that yesterday, here.

9. Are you a phone person? (ie: Do you like talking on the phone?)
Yes, I always have been, unless the other person on the line isn't a phone person. Have you ever tried to have a conversation with someone on the phone, who isn't? It's painful, like pulling teeth to get them to talk. It's even worse when they call you and you eventually have to ask why they are calling, because they don't volunteer that information. You called me!

10. What was the best vacation you ever took?
It's a tie. I took a trip in college to Akumal. My gram treated my cousin, Taylor, and I for our birthdays. My parents surprised us by going for a couple days as well. I have some fantastic memories and hope to one day take Adam and the kids. My other favorite trip was our honeymoon to Lanikai, Hawaii. So relaxing and beautiful and perfect after planning a wedding. We hope to go back many times. Sad to say, but we haven't taken a vacation since our anniversary. Hopefully, that will change soon.

Chicken Spaghetti

The last ten days really thru me off. I had a couple of items planned to make from The Pioneer Woman Cooks, but I then I remembered that I do have a year to complete the challenge and one week off isn't going to be the end of the world.

Tonight, the girls met for Bible study at our house. I knew Adam wasn't sure what time he would be home, so I wanted to make something that would feed about 12 girls and be easy. I opted for the Chicken Spaghetti. I had already purchased all the ingredients a couple weeks ago. I only go the grocery store twice a month and go back for milk, bread, and fruits if needed.

I decided in order to make my life easier, I would prep the meal early and put it in the fridge until I was ready to put it in the oven. I don't know why I never thought of doing this before, but it made everything so much easier. As Taylor napped, and Mason played, I started cooking. The prep time took a little less than an hour.

First, I boiled the chicken. The recipe asks for a fryer chicken you can cut up, but I already had chicken breasts in my freezer and I wasn't going to spend extra money to do the exact same thing with the chicken, not to mention it was much easier.

While the chicken boiled, I decided to go ahead and cut up the green bell pepper and the small onion. I actually only used half of a small onion and thought it gave the dish just the right amount of flavor, without being too powerful.

After the chicken had boiled, I took it out to cool and set aside the two cups of the chicken broth.

Next, I boiled the spaghetti noodles in the remainder broth from the chicken. I think this gives the noodles a little extra flavor and I liked that I wasn't waisting any part of the broth.

As the noodles boiled, I shredded the three chicken breasts. I love shredded chicken in almost any casserole or soup. It's perfect in my mom's Chicken Tortilla Soup.

In a large mixing bowl, I added the drained spaghetti, the cream of mushroom soup and the cheese.

Then I added the bell pepper, pimento, onion and the spices. It calls for Cayenne Pepper and I didn't think that a quarter of a teaspoon gave it enough taste, so I added more. But definitely taste it after it's mixed to make sure it is to your liking.

I added the shredded chicken and the broth that we set aside in the beginning and mixed everything together. The recipe says it will make 6 to 8 servings, so I was worried if it would be enough for 12 girls.

Add the shredded cheese and place in the oven or covered in the fridge until you are ready to cook it. I wish I could say that I have a picture of the finished dish, but I didn't have time to get my camera before we dug into it.

Not only did everyone love it, but some of the girls took some leftovers home and I still had plenty left over as well. I am going to freeze it and pull it out one night, when I'm in need of a quick meal. I know I've only made three of her dishes, but I haven't tasted anything I don't like.

Challenge: Cooking my way thru "The Pioneer Woman Cooks"

Recipes completed: 3

Recipes left: 60

Organization

If you ask my husband, family, or any of my close friends, they will tell you that I'm an organizational freak. I heard this quote yesterday and it so fits me, "Everything has a place and there is a place for everything." If you watched the show Friends, I would mostly relate to Monica. On one episode, Chandler discovers that Monica keeps one of the closet doors locked in the apartment. He starts to wonder what is in there and finally gets the door open, to realize that it's cluttered and full of junk. You would think that even Monica would organize her junk closet, but this is her weakness.

I have a drawer in my bathroom that is the same way. It's not like our house doesn't have a ton of storage space, if anything that is the opposite. We have cabinets in our kitchen that still aren't being used. In my bathroom, there is only one drawer...odd, I know. When we moved in, I asked Adam if he wanted it, and he said he would be fine with the cabinets underneath his sink. Not only do I have cabinets underneath my sink and a drawer, but I also have another cabinet and part of the linen closet. Girls have a lot of stuff.

My drawer is my weakness. Even when I was younger, my drawer in the bathroom was always cluttered and never organized. My cabinets and linen closet and perfect, but I just couldn't get my drawer organized. I have anything from jewelry to brushes in there. I have a couple of jewelry boxes, but I'm not a big fan of them. I finally decided that I needed to clean out my drawer and organize it.

Since I'm not making baby food for Taylor anymore, I decided to put my ice cube trays to good use. I got the idea after watching House Hunters on HGTV one evening. I hate to show you the before, but in order for you to get the full experience of how bad it really was, you have to see it.

Before

After (notice my love for chapstick)

Expectations

I have a problem with expectations. Unfortunately, I have always been this way and it has taken me almost 30 years to realize this. Sad. It wasn't until a conversation I had a few months ago with my Dad, that I realized this. Maybe it's wanting to control every aspect of my life, because obviously deep down, I feel that my way is the right way. I guess that's also called stubborn or hard-headed. This can cause a major problem for others in your life, but most importantly, I'm learning that it can cause you to miss out on what God is trying to show you.

I love check-lists! So much so, that when I make one, I'll write down things I have already completed to make myself feel better. Again, sad, but the truth. Growing up, I had a check-list on life. Go to college, get married, have kids, buy a house, grow old. Within that check-list, I had a TON of expectations. When those expectations weren't met, I became disappointed, sad, and then a angry. I not only took it out on myself, but on the people around me.

I expect my kids to nap. When they don't, I realize how tired I am and become frustrated that I don't have time to myself. I expect my husband to help me after a long day. When he would rather sit and relax, I become annoyed and feel like he doesn't care that I had a long day. When really, he just had a long day as well, and needs a break for himself. I expect everyone to know how I'm feeling, and when they don't, I think they are insincere and rude. See what I mean? Selfish.

A lot, but not all people, enter marriage this way. Just recently, in the Shifting Gears Sunday School class we attend, we discussed this. There is a difference between expectations and hope. A husband can hope that he is going to have a good home-cooked meal every night, your wife to pick up for you, and "fun" in the evening. But if you change that to expecting that to happen, you can cause a rift in your marriage, without even realizing it.

Usually, expectations can be one sided. Most of the time, the other person has no idea what your expectations might be. If that is the case, a fight could occur with words that can break down the other person.

To be brutally honest, my expectations have hurt my husband, my family, and my friends. I want this perfect world and I lose sight that I'm not in control, but God is. So many times, I try to do things on my own, because let's face it, I think I can do it better. Sure, God will let me do things on my own, but how much easier would it be if I just handed it over to Him. That doesn't mean it won't be difficult, but it's trusting that He will pull you thru and give you the grace you need.

I write this mostly for me, to remind myself that the expectations that I have set for myself or others in my life, hasn't helped me, but only discouraged me and let me down. But I also write this in hope that if you struggle with this as well, know that I'll be praying for you.

Flashback Fridays

This weeks picture is not as old as most, but it was taken almost 4 years ago, when my nephew Connor was born. Be still my heart, I love little babies!

I love Target

Yesterday I felt well enough to get out of the house, even if it was just for a little bit. I go stir crazy, especially if I haven't left the house in three days. So where did I go? Target! It is probably one of my favorite stores of all time. Where else can you find a cute comforter and groceries at the same place? If you said Walmart, then you are correct, but I make it a point to not enter Walmart unless my life depended on it. Walmart is fine, but I can find all the same things at Target and still pay the same price, if not cheaper (coupons).

So as I walked thru the aisles of Target, I realized they finally put out all of their Valentine's decor and yummy candy. I have always loved the seasonal decor Target puts out, but the Valentine's stuff is my favorite. If you are smart, wait until a week after Valentine's Day and you can get most of it for 90% off. Actually, that goes for any of their seasonal stuff.

Outside of all the candy, Mason could care less. He wanted to walk by the toys and kept asking to see the cars. I finally pulled myself away, because hearing Mason repeat himself one more time was not helping my headache.

I made sure to take the long way to the toy section, so that I could walk by the bedding. A few weeks ago, Mason woke up sick to his stomach in the middle of the night and unfortunately our comforter took the beating. I know I could have sent it to the dry cleaners, but it had a few tears and we decided to just throw it out instead.

For the past few weeks, we have been using an old down comforter and duvet we keep in our linen closet for when guests arrive. It doesn't match our room, but it works fine for the winter. However, once it starts to get warmer, we won't be able to use it.

As I walked up and down the aisles looking at the different bedding, I came across an 8pc. set that matched our room perfectly and it was on sale. Normally, I would have waited until Adam was with me, but it was the last one and I figured I could return it if Adam didn't like it. Luckily, I didn't have to return it. Would you like to see?